BackWorkers at Bajaj Auto’s Chakan plant call off strike
Workers are set to return to the plant and normal production is expected to resume from Wednesday
Premium(Hemant Mishra/Mint)
Mumbai: A strike at Bajaj Auto Ltd’s Chakan factory ended Tuesday with the union “unconditionally" calling off the stir after 49 days.
The 900 or so workers who have been agitating since 25 June are set to return to the factory on Wednesday morning and production is subsequently expected to return to normal.
“I am certain that the vast majority of the workmen at Chakan never supported the union’s stand and that in the end, this has been the most important reason why the VKKS (Vishwa Kalyan Kamgar Sanghatana) union has had to call off their strike," Bajaj Auto managing director Rajiv Bajaj said in a press release.
VKKS president Dilip Pawar, who led the agitation, said, “With no support from anyone—labour office or other local authorities—we can’t fight alone." The decision to end the stir was taken at a joint meeting between members of VKKS and Shramik Mahasabha, which is an umbrella organization VKKS, on Monday evening, Pawar said, adding that “the management had no role to play" in the step being taken.
The workers had stopped work over demands for a wage increase, the allotment of shares at a discounted rate and the reinstatement of 22 workers suspended by the management on disciplinary grounds.
The management first set 12 August as the deadline for the resolution of the crisis, failing which Bajaj said he would consider the permanent transfer of 50% of the Chakan factory’s production to other plants in Aurangabad and Pantnagar. The deadline had been extended by three days on Tuesday morning before the strike was called off.
Bajaj said the cases of the 22 workers who are suspended “will be considered objectively and sympathetically in the collective interest of all stakeholders".
Pawar said the imminent advent of the festival season was also one of the reasons the workers called off the strike.
“This is the peak season for two-wheeler sales and we didn’t want either the company or the workers to lose out on the opportunity," he said, adding that VKKS members “are not giving up on the demands yet. We will continue our movement... We want to see how the establishment behaves when we fully cooperate."
The Chakan plant employs 1,486 people and produces the Pulsar, Discover and KTM brands. Bajaj had been producing some of its high-volume brands at its Waluj factory in Aurangabad. On 26 July, Bajaj announced a production loss of 25,000 bikes. The management added it did not suffer any loss in the last few weeks.
Bajaj Auto gained 2.91% to close at ₹ 1,859.45 on Tuesday on BSE while the benchmark Sensex rose 1.49% to close at 19,229.84 points and the BSE Auto Index advanced 2.32% to 10,528.32 points.
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